Gray Wolves, Black-Tailed Deer, Pacific Chorus Frogs and Barnacles; Connelly Creek nature area service; 3/24/18

At its core, Explorers Club (EC) is about connection and our recent service work (Saturday, 3/24) exemplified this like few other outings. Let’s take a look at all that went on through the lens of our EC mottos.

As you may know, Explorers have been restoring habitat in Happy Valley Park for several years. Now, the good folks at Bellingham Parks have determined that we’ve brought that site to the point where it can hold its own for a while. Time to Widen the Circle by following Connelly Creek across Donovan Ave to begin work on the Connelly Creek nature area originally designed by high school students several decades ago. The trail through this area is a popular walking, jogging, dog walking spot. As we worked, several people called out to thank the Explorers for their service. How sweet to connect with community members in this way and to see today’s kids carrying on the work begun by today’s adults when they were young, all under the aegis of the joint effort of Bellingham Parks, the Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association (NSEA) and, of course, Wild Whatcom. A web of connection across communities, across generations, between EC groups. 

The work feels familiar — uprooting Himalayan Blackberry, planting native trees and shrubs, spreading bark over invasive Reed Canarygrass. At Wild Whatcom, we believe that exposing Explorers to their natural environment through exploration and service builds a connection to the land that supports an ethic of protection as expressed in the motto, “Connect and Protect”. 

"If we want children to flourish, to become truly empowered, then let us allow them to love the earth before we ask them to save it."-David Sobel 

Doing this work persistently over several years conveys a sense of the deep, abiding need and nature of the effort. 

“Many Hands Make Light Work” is an old axiom we co-opted and, for our service outings, super charged by age-stacking the bodies attached to those hands. Four groups arrived, in age order — 12-13 year olds, then 10-11 year olds, 9-10 year olds and, you guessed it, 8-9 year olds. We encourage the older Explorers to coach their younger brethren, providing leadership experience, role modeling, caring and a different kind of fun and engagement. And, for good measure, the youngest group is our gender inclusive cohort, adding that dimension to the experience. Oh, and we got loads of work accomplished!

"If you go off into a far, far forest and get very quiet, you'll come to understand that you're connected with everything." – Alan Watts

The mud notwithstanding (or thanks to), we enjoyed several hours of besting blackberry bushes and giving back to the community. For information on your Explorer's next outing:

Barnacles, check here,

Pacific Chorus Frogs, here,

Black-Tailed Deer, here, and

Gray Wolves here.

Everyone! photos!

Roosevelt Elk Calves, Jumping Mice, and Townsend's Chipmunks Team Up for Service at Connelly Creek

The Roosevelt Elk Calves, Jumping Mice, and Townsend’s Chipmunks teamed up for a big day of service on a St. Patrick’s Day Saturday. Gathering together at our Connelly Creek Service Site in Happy Valley Park the Roosevelt Elk Calves started things off by helping to prep the site by moving the tools and doing a walk through with the mentors to learn what tasks we would be working on for the day. When the Jumping Mice showed up and started their tool use demonstration, some of the Roosevelt Elk Calves got excited to put on a “skit” to liven things up. After we reviewed safe tool use we teamed up and began working on our projects for the day; planting native species in two new caged areas, removing any remaining blackberries, and mulching, mulching, mulching. The Roosevelt Elk Calves and Jumping Mice were well on the way to getting the first plants in the ground when the Townsend’s Chipmunks showed up.

Getting some native plants in the ground!

Without hesitating that Townsend’s Chipmunks jumped right in to the work. Taking on planting the remainder of the native species in the Red Alder grove, the Townsend’s Chipmunks enjoyed some guidance from a few enthusiastic Roosevelt Elk Calve master-planters. With most of the native species in the ground it was time to transition to moving mulch. Sometimes there is just a desire to do simple work that takes some extra elbow grease. The three groups teamed up and put their noses to the grindstone and began moving mulch faster than all of Mickey’s broomsticks helpers in Fantasia. Before we knew it the mulch pile was almost gone. While the mentors were trying to figure out what else to do we had a surprise visitor; Monica from the Bellingham Parks Department!

Working hard to finish up the last of the planting

Moving mulch!

Taking a break to play some games

Taking part in the pilot Poop Patrol project with Bellingham Parks

Playing "Toss the Turd" !

Taking a break to eat lunch and play a few rounds of "Fire in the Forest” the three groups got a chance to relax and recuperate for a strong finish. Setting our eyes on the remaining mulch the Roosevelt Elk Calves broke from the rest of the group to participate in Monica’s pilot “Poop Patrol” program that will focus on educating Bellingham residents on proper care and disposal of pet waste. Participating in a few educational activities like the “Turd Toss” where the Explorers got to toss bags of fake poop in a trash bin for a prize and the “Poop Patrol” where the Explorers fanned out across the park to flag any piles of dog poop, we had a lot of fun and learned a bit at the same time. With over 20,000 dogs living in Bellingham producing over 15,000 lbs of pet waste a day, it is an ever growing concern that without proper care we could begin compromising the water quality of our local watersheds. Armed with fresh knowledge and feeling satisfied in accomplishing all our tasks for the day at the service site the Roosevelt Elk Calves, Jumping Mice, and Townsend’s Chipmunks went home with smiles on their faces and a solid day of work to hang their hats on. 

Make sure to check out the rest of the photos from our outing here!

Cave Dwellers, Alligator Lizards, and Sea Stars Team Up for Service at Connelly Creek

Starting off our Spring 2018 Service Season, the Cave Dwellers, Alligator Lizards, and Sea Stars joined forces at Happy Valley Park to continue work on our Connelly Creek Service Site. This site has been adopted by the Boys Explorers Club who has been working for over five years to restore the once blackberry infested junkyard to a promising stand of native plants and trees. As the eldest group, the Cave Dwellers had the most experience so they took some time to teach the younger Alligator Lizards how to safely use the tools. While our tool demo was wrapping up with Sea Stars showed up and we all grouped together to get started on our work for the day.

Circling up for a tool demonstration

To start things off for the season we had a very straight forward task; weeding of the wired cages, spot removal of blackberries, and plenty of spreading mulch. Getting to work everyone teamed up with their friends and found a project to work on. While some Explorers used Hori-Horis to dig up weeds and blackberry roots, others loaded up buckets of mulch, while even more ferried the mulch to be spread over the recently weeded areas. Others found patches of Reed Canary Grass to walk down and mulch over. Oftentimes mentors are required to be task-masters and micro manage the Explorers to ensure all the work gets done. Luckily, however, today was not one of those days. The three groups worked hard from start to finish, stayed on task, were safe and respectfully using the tools, and everyone even seemed to be enjoying themselves! This was wonderful for the mentors to see and made for a fun, laid back day of service for all involved.

Shoveling mulch!

Hauling mulch!

Dumping mulch!

With most of the mulch pile moved and our time running short we gathered together and played a big game of Fire in the Forest together to celebrate our hard work. Not only was it great to see all three groups working and playing so well together, but the beauty was in the greater context. We had older groups and younger groups. There were Boys Explorers Club and Girls Explorers Club groups. Our goal for the day was service and giving back working hard for something greater than ourselves. With all these variables mixing together it was inevitably a fantastic day and so much fun to be a part of. 

Make sure to check out the rest of the photos from our outing here!

Jumping Mice, Storm Wolves and GEC Swallowtails advance the restoration of Connelly Creek service site - 10/29/16

“What happens when we’re finished?” Great question from an Explorer during a service outing last weekend. There is a “Groundhog Day” element to this work. Each fall and spring, we uproot blackberry bushes and stomp down and cover the tall grasses. It was very prescient of that Explorer to pick his head up from the work to look at the big picture. The answer, which we do well to keep in mind, is that the work is finished when the ecology of the site is restored to balance, at which time it can manage its flora and fauna without our help. When that happens, there will be other important projects for the Explorers of tomorrow to tackle.

That’s a long way off, however. As noted in the BEC motto, "It's about the journey, not the destination". Fortunately, we have a plan, thanks to the leadership of Bellingham Parks, that involves removing invasive, non-native Himalayan Blackberries and shading out the sun loving invasive, non-native Reed Canary Grass. This fall, we’re continuing to wrestle the blackberries into submission (motto - Grasp the Nettle...err, blackberry) and covering the Canary Grass with bark mulch. We’re also planting native alders and plants such as Ninebark to provide the aforementioned shade. Thanks to the Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Assoc. for the use of their tools in this work.

Getting down to work.

A first for the Connelly Creek service project - the Swallowtails, a Girls Explorer's Club group, were one of three groups working last Saturday

Himalayan Blackberries produce delicious fruit....AND grow deep roots that are tough to dig out.

Gotta move that bark to cover the Reed Canary Grass

Last year, we planted native species and put a wire fence around them to keep out the deer. Unfortunately, it doesn't deter the blackberries. Two of the GEC Swallowtails spent most of the day cleaning up this important patch.

Here's that patch all cleaned up....nice work, girls.

Hard work and rain can't dampen their spirits...

New life

I don't think that's what we had in mind.

Just as important as restoring the habitat along the creek is Wild Whatcom’s interest in providing the space for your Explorers to practice, as David Brooks put it in The Road to Character, “…the virtues of people who are inclined to be useful but don’t need to prove anything to the world: humility, restraint, reticence, temperance, respect and soft self-discipline.” Given that both endeavors are bigger than any of us, the scene has undoubtedly been set; your Explorer’s mentors are ever grateful for the opportunity to work with these wonderful kids in this meaningful undertaking.

A thousand thanks to mentors Hannah and Lauren and all the Swallowtails for pitching in with grace and ardor. Let's see if we can do that some more!

Photos of wet kids doing good work! The Storm Wolves next gather on Sunday, November 20th, for an exploration at Racehorse Falls. Details here. Next up for the Jumping Mice is an exploration of Arroyo Park via North Chuckanut Mountain Trailhead on Sunday, December 4th. Their schedule page here. The Swallowtails' schedule shows that they continue with service on Saturday, November 19 at the GEC Service Site.